PART 4: Sirens of Salvation

PART 4: Sirens of Salvation

Police cruisers arrive with flashing lights.

The police cruisers slid to a screeching halt directly in front of us, blocking the street with their emergency strobes painting the suburban houses in harsh crimson and cobalt.

Before the vehicles had even come to a complete stop, the driver-side door flew open, and Officer Marcus Vance—a veteran officer I recognized from our neighborhood watch committee—leaped out with his flashlight drawn.

"Freeze! Stay right where you—Mrs. Miller?" Officer Vance lowered his flashlight slightly as he recognized my soot-stained, trembling form emerging from the treeline. "Good God, ma'am, what happened?!"

I stumbled toward him, practically collapsing against the hood of the cruiser, holding Chloe up into the light.

"She's alive, Officer! They tried to bury her alive!" I gasped, tears finally breaking free and streaming down my cheeks. "My son and his wife... they locked her in a casket!"

Officer Vance stared at Chloe, whose pale face and feverish eyes blinked against the strobe lights.

He didn't waste a single second doubting my words.

He immediately unclipped his radio, barking into the receiver. "Dispatch, we have a medical emergency at forty-two-ten Elm Street! Requesting two ambulances and backup units to the residence immediately! Possible child endangerment and attempted homicide!"

From down the street, the front door of my son’s house slammed open.

Julian marched out onto the front lawn, flanked by Victoria, both of them putting on an immediate, sickening display of theatrical grief as they saw the police cruisers.

"Officer! Thank goodness!" Julian cried out, running toward us with his hands raised in dramatic despair. "My mother has lost her mind! She broke into our home, stole my deceased daughter's body from the living room memorial, and dragged her out into the cold!"

Officer Vance stepped firmly in front of us, resting his hand on his holster as Julian and Victoria rushed forward.

"Stop right there, Mr. Miller," Officer Vance commanded, his voice cold and hard as steel. "Take another step closer and you'll be placed under arrest."

Victoria stopped dead in her tracks, her face turning pale under the flashing lights. "Arrest us?! Are you insane?! That crazy old woman is unhinged! She's holding a corpse!"

"I'm not a corpse, Aunt Victoria," a tiny, raspy voice whispered from against my shoulder.

Chloe turned her head, looking directly at her stepmother with tired, accusing eyes.

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The color drained entirely from Victoria’s face.

Julian stood frozen in the middle of the street, his mouth opening and closing like a fish stranded out of water, as the terrible, undeniable truth stepped straight out of the dark.